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H. H. SOHLAPP.

PROCESS OF DESILVERIZING LEAD BULLION. No. 880,524. Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

\ WITNESSES: INVENTOR:

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UNITED STATES Parana rrrcso HERMAN H. SGHLAPP, OF PUEBLO, COLORADO.

PROCESS OF DESlLVERlZlNG LEAD BULLION."

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,524, dated April 3, 1888.

Application filed Novemberll, 1886. Renewed February 28, 1888. Serial No, 265,596. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN H. SCHLAIP, of Pueblo, in the county of Pueblo and State of Colorado, have invented a new and Improved Process of Extracting Silver and Gold from Lead Bullion, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in the desilverization of lead bullion by means of zinc as performed in the process of extracting the precious metals from lead bullion, and has for its object to facilitate the desilverizing process while rendering it as effective as before.

The desilverizing operation, as previously performed, consisted, briefly, in introducing the liquated base bullion into a vessel of melted zinc, in allowing the whole to stand until the precious metals were entirely taken up bythe zinc and the desilverized bullion had fallen to the bottom, and then drawing off the latter. Fresh bullion was then added to the zinc, the whole treated as before, and the operation repeated until the zinc was saturated, when it was removed for distillation in the usual manner. The operation being repeated as often as fresh bullion was introduced was intermittent, involving a great loss of time while the mixture of the bullion and zinc was standing.

In my improved process I overcome this object-ion by causing the melted base bullion to fall through a column of melted zinc in a finelydi'vided state in the ordinary manner, the zinc column resting on a bath of desilverized bullion or lead, which receives that from which the precious metals have been extracted by the zinc, and in drawing off the dcsilverized bullion from the bottom of the bath as fast as the fresh bullion is introduced at the top of the zinc column, as hereinafter clearly described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, in which the figure serves to illustrate the manner in which the invention is performed.

\Vithin the lower part of the vessel A is initially contained a bath, B, of desilverized lead bullion or lead, and above the bath is arranged and rests thereupon (owing to its less specific gravity) a column, 0, of melted zinc, the lead bullion and zinc being kept at the proper temperature by means of a furnace of suitable construction, as shown. The lead bullion carrying the precious metals is poured, as from the spout D of the containing-vessel, upon the column 0 of zinc, and is brought into intimate relation therewith in its descent by stirring, or by means of a perforated plate, as shown, by which the bullion is divided into a fine spray. The precious metals are thereby almost entirely taken up by the zinc, the desilverized lead bullion thus separated falling into the bath B. In order that this separation may be the more complete I employ an air-excluding covering, F, consisting of asuitable flux, which is placed upon the top of the zinc column to prevent the same from oxidation, and thus assist in the separation of the lead or lead bullion, substantially as described in another pending application filed by me with the present application. I remove the desilverized bnllion,as it accumulates at the bottom of the vessel equally and simultaneously with the introduction of the base bullion at the top, by means of a siphon, E, leading from the bottom of the bath B upward and out through the side of the vessel at or near the top of the zinc column. The bath B is thus maintained at a constant height, so that the zinc or zinc alloy that may be can ried into the bath before it rises again, owing to its less specific gravity, will not escape through the siphon E, which leads from the bottom of the bath.

The operation of separating the lead bullion from the precious metals is thus carried on continuously until the zinc is saturated, when the zinc alloy thus formed is removed for extraction of the precious metals by liquation and distillation in the usual manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The improvement in the processof desilverizing lead bullion by causing the melted bullion to fall in a finely-divided state through a column of zinc, which consists in initially arranging below the zinc column a bath of desilverized bullion or lead on which the zinc rests, and in drawing off the desilverized bullion from the bottom of the bath as fast as the fresh bullion is introduced into the column of zinc, substantially as herein set forth.

HERMAN H. SOHLAPP. Witnesses:

Trros. C. DOUGI-IERTY, H. G. Burn 

